First screened (and reviewed) at the Edinburgh Film Festival last month, Rebecca Miller�s ensemble drama, taken from her own novel, is a high class soap opera of a movie.

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (15)
***
Dir: Rebecca Miller
With: Robin Wright Penn, Alan Arkin, Keanu Reeves, Blake Lively

First screened (and reviewed) at the Edinburgh Film Festival last month, Rebecca Miller's ensemble drama, taken from her own novel, is a high class soap opera of a movie. Robin Wright Penn stars as the eponymous Pippa Lee, svelte, sorted wife of a rich publisher (Alan Arkin) who has decided to move into a retirement community because of his failing health.

Pippa, much younger than her husband, is not ready for afternoon tea and whist drives just yet, and as she flashes back through the memories of her previously rebellious life (where she is played by Blake Lively), we see she likely never will be.

A typically spiky turn from Arkin accompanies watchable performances from Keanu Reeves as the son of Pippa's neighbours, and Winona Ryder as a troubled friend of the family. Wright Penn is excellent - cool, assured, thoughtful, and wry when the occasion demands it.